Steve Brinich: The Criminal

[Thomas Shaddack]

Dug this from my old archives, after finding out it vanished from the Net.
Decade-old, but more truthful than before.
May it provide some inspiration.
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   Title: The Criminal
   Lyrics by: Steve Brinich
   Tune: The Idiot (Stan Rogers)
   Date: 1994
   Found online at: http://www.access.digex.net/~steve-b/myfilks.htm
   Recorded on:
   Subject: Government

[This is one of my reactions to the US government's attacks on
freedom of electronic speech (I was thinking specifically about the
government's Big Brother wiretap/encryption policies, but it applies
equally well to the CDA and other such offenses.
As for the politicians who vote for these abuses -- alas, cutting out the
tongues of oathbreakers has gone out of fashion, so we will have to settle
for turning them out to find honest work. They're sneaky characters, but
groups such as the Voters' Telecom Watch, Electronic Frontier Foundation,
etc. do a fairly good job of monitoring the hired help in Washington and
sounding the alarm when they start getting out of line again.]


I log onto this homebrew Net where the Feds are not around
I've turned my back on Big Brother's track and made this open ground
I slip past the surveillance taps; the alarms will make no sound
I set up the link and I always think back to my old account

I remember back six years ago, this outlaw life I chose
When every day the news would say there's another rule to impose
Well, I could have stayed and just obeyed, but I'm not one of those
I'm remaining free, and that makes me a criminal, I suppose.

So I bid farewell to the tamed old Net I never more will see
But write I must, and I put my trust in human liberty
Oh, I miss support, and the GUI ports, and the realtime videos
But I like being free, and that makes me a criminal, I suppose.

So, come you fine young hackers all, to the cyber underground
This outlaw life's no paradise, but it's better than lying down
Oh, the interface isn't cut-and-paste, and the system's often down
But the government spies will set their eyes on a licensed Net account

So bid farewell to the tamed old Net you never more will see
Here your words will ship without censorship; there's real liberty
You'll miss the bells and the fancy shells; here we just have plain old prose
But you'll be free, and just like me, a criminal, I suppose.